January 17, 2011

More fun with fabric stiffener. Here's how to make some easy fabric picture frames for your wall. Or cut out anything your heart desires: silhouettes of your family, animal shapes for the nursery, lettering, ornate designs, party decorations... the world is your oyster. Hey, maybe consider doing an oyster.

I'd heard of people ironing starched fabric to walls and wanted to try it out. Sure enough, I was able to stick my stiffened fabric to the wall with an iron and remove it without harming my paint job. This is super for renters, indecisive decorators, or easily bored people. Note that if your wall is really rough, you'll probably have a hard time making these stick. Also for what it's worth, my walls are painted with flat latex paint.

What to do:
Prepare a piece of fabric with fabric stiffener. See this post where I used Stiffen Stuff in a spray bottle.

Measure your photo and determine the size of the opening needed in the picture frame. I used 5x7 photos, so I wanted to overlap the photo by 1/4" inch on every side. Thus the hole in my fabric needed to be 4 1/2" x 6 1/2".

To make a template for your frame, fold a piece of scrap paper into quarters. You can design one quadrant of the frame and cut through the layers to make a symmetrical border. Mark off one quarter of your frame opening (in my case, 2 1/4" x 3 1/4"). Then sketch a decorative border for the frame.

Cut out the paper frame and unfold to see if you like it, confirming the opening fits over your photo. If you're happy, fold the pre-stiffened fabric into quarters and trace your design onto the back side with a pencil.

Cut out the fabric frame and iron it flat to get rid of the fold marks.

Then iron the fabric frame to the wall. I tried to be quick about it, not leaving the iron pressed against the wall for very long. I'm pleased to report that this didn't harm my paint at all. Some outer bits of the frame weren't sticking at first, so I used the point of the iron to go over those again until everything was adhered well.

After the frame is ironed to the wall, loosen the edges around the picture opening with your fingernail until you've pulled enough loose to insert your photo. If too much comes loose, put the photo in and iron around it to stick the loose parts of the frame back to the wall.

Later I tried peeling these frames off the wall and they didn't leave a mark. Lovely!

I didn't have to iron it -- I just dipped the fabric into the starch (that I poured into a bucket); swooshed it around, making sure its good and wet; then rang it out and applied with my hands. I used a damp sponge to smooth it out. It's a great project for boring walls!

I will definitely try this in the girls' room when I redo it. I could care less what happens to the walls because when we redo the house as a whole in a few years we're taking out he plaster walls and putting up drywall (what fun that will be)

Tried this out tonight! Our toddler now has a nice little brown puppy and large brown tree w/ baby blue leaves decorating his wall! This is a wonderful idea, especially since we live in an apartment and can't paint the walls! Not quite a picture frame, but an awesome way to do room decals!

I noticed your more recent post on putting fabric over doors using ModPodge. Since I'm a renter, I really can't do something so permanent...But I was thinking, would starched fabric stick to a door? I think it's worth a try anyway. Now all I need is an iron, lol.

Here's a similar project I did awhile back.http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2008/07/starched-fabric-decal-experiment.htmlThere's a link in that post that's interesting, too. I'd do it if I was renting.

I don't have templates, I'm afraid. I just sketched the designs onto my paper. When it's folded into quadrants, you can be assured your frame will turn out symmetrical (kind of like cutting a snowflake.) I think you can do it!

On a whim I tried this with Spray-on starch which you would use for ironing your clothes, but of course it didn't work (your clothes would stick to the ironing board, I imagine...). I'm not sure if I'll be able to find Stiffen Stuff here in Hawaii where I live, so I might just use your other cornstarch-no-heat tutorial. Do you have any pros and cons to which is better?

Pros of the make-it-yourself paste: it's cheap and easy. For me it stuck really well. Cons: really bright fabric dyes might bleed onto the wall unless you're careful to wash it first and test the colorfastness. And the starch leaves a very thin film after you remove the fabric. Depending on how wipeable your paint finish is, it can wipe off.

Stiffen stuff pros: no mess, easy to remove with no effect on your wall. (At least mine worked like that!) Cons: costs more. Could get cost prohibitive if you're doing huge pieces.